


Return to Reality

by notjustmom



Series: The Mentalist [8]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Angst, Episode: s04e10 Fugue in Red, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 19:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21415552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: A possible ending to the Fugue in Red episode - in which Jane survives a drowning, but his memory has regressed to before he has a family, and he believes he is a psychic. In order to remind of who he really is, Lisbon takes him back to the house where his family were killed and reminds him who he has become.
Relationships: Patrick Jane/Teresa Lisbon
Series: The Mentalist [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1526000
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	Return to Reality

“Great house, whose is it?”

“Yours. Give me your keys.” 

He stood by as she opened the door then followed her through the eerily empty house and up the stairs. They stopped a few feet away from a closed door, and he knew he really didn’t want to know what was beyond it, mostly from how her breathing changed, and how she froze and waited for him to go on alone. 

She was actually afraid.

As far as he could remember, and from what he had learned of her from the last couple of days, she didn’t frighten easily. No, it wasn’t that. She wasn’t afraid for herself, she was afraid for him. He walked slowly to the door, glanced back at her one last time, then put his hand on the door knob, and turned it carefully, as if he could sneak up on whatever was on the other side if he were only quiet enough. He blinked at the solitary unmade mattress and pillow, then lifted his eyes to focus on the red smiley face, and everything rushed back, in high definition, and he wondered how he was still standing upright at that moment.

When he came to, Teresa - no, Lisbon, was holding him in her arms as if she could hold his shattered pieces together by the sheer fierceness of her will. And at that moment, when he finally looked into her eyes, he understood that her love for him was what had been holding him together for the last few years.

“Lisbon?”

“I’m sorry, Jane,” she whispered again. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. I just didn’t want to lose you, it was selfish -”

“No. I’m the one who has been selfish, Lisbon. All this time. I knew, but I was - afraid that if I told you, if you knew - how I felt about you -” He saw her try to turn away from his eyes, and wondered if he had waited too long. “Lisbon. Please, listen to me? Please. I haven’t said anything because I - until I finish this - until _we finish this_ \- I can't be who you want me to be, who you need me to be, who I might be one day. I’m not there yet. I want to be better - I want to deserve you, right now - I’m not - I can’t.”

She nodded and smiled sadly at him. “I know, Jane. I know. Let’s get out of here, hmm, maybe get some tea?”

He nodded at her and managed to smile back through the tears he had never been able to shed until now. "Please?"


End file.
